What Is Electrical Conductivity (Ec) And How Does It Affect Your Fish?

[Jebbwardo]

What are ec levels what does it affect and what are dangerous levels even if it is dangerous to fish, I know it's to so with the amount of positive ions in your water but how does it affect fish and what is ec in detail?

 

[Chad]

Fluval makes an EC monitor. Their page on the subject has some good information on it, what it is, etc.
 
Here are the highlights with a link below.
 
What is Electrical Conductivity?
Electrical conductivity (EC) is a measure of the water's ability to "carry" an electrical current and indirectly, a measure of dissolved solids or ions in the water. Pure water has a very low conductivity value (nearly zero); hence, the more dissolved solids and ions occurring in the water, the more electrical current the water is able to conduct...
 
Why is Electrical Conductivity so important in aquaria?
One of the most important issues for aquarium keepers is providing and maintaining a suitable and stable environment for living organisms; EC plays an important role in monitoring both fresh and saltwater tanks, providing a general, but fundamental alert that something is changing inside the aquarium.
It is something similar to the body temperature of a person: a deviation from the "normal" range does not point to a specific illness, but suggests that something is changing or has been altered, and needs to be investigated...
 
http/www.fluval-g.com/ecsystem_e.php

 

[Jebbwardo]

I have saw all that but no where does it tell you what is a safe ec level and what is dangerous and what it can do to your fish if it is at dangerous levels

 

[Chad]

It's in that article.
 
Freshwater
When starting a new fresh water aquarium and before introducing fish, it is good practice to measure the water hardness value (GH) and evaluate if this value is suitable for the fish you are about to introduce. In other words, by knowing the GH value of our aquarium water, you can determine which species of fish will thrive in that type of water.
In a newly established aquarium, conductivity will be roughly related to General Hardness (GH= sum of divalent ions, mainly Calcium and Magnesium) and TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) values: µS/cm x 0.5 = ppm TDS x 0.056 = dGH.
Therefore, when buying a freshwater fish, it is very important to know the EC value the fish was living in, and which level will be needed to keep the fish healthy.
For community freshwater tanks, the EC value may generally range from 100 to 300 µS/cm; Discus, Paracheirodon and other soft-water species require values below 100, while Cichlids from African lakes (Malawi e Tanganyika) thrive at values above 500 µS/cm.
 
Basically it's an indicator. The EC itself isn't what you are worried about but rather what's causing it. The graph on the page shows a rise in EC which was a signal to the aquarist something changed in the tank. They tested and found nitrates had elevated. In a marine tank EC is a good indicator of salinity.
 
EC is something I've never worried about measuring but I can see that it could save someone time. For example if I perform several tests on my tank this takes time and money for tests but if I measure EC then I really only need to run those tests when my EC has changed. That's really the value I see in it.
 
High EC does not mean your fish are getting electrocuted but can mean there is something about the water that is impure. Pure water, like distilled water, has little conductivity but when we add stuff, nitrates, TDS, etc. the EC goes up. When we know our baseline EC we can determine changes in water quality by the rise in EC.
 
That's pretty much it. Not something I worry about myself.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

EC can also be measured in what is called TDS (total dissolved solids). I use meters for TDS as well as a multi-meter which will read ec and TDS (ec +500) or ppm (ec + 700).
 
Pure water is a poor conductor of electricity. What makes if become a great conductor is the presence of what ec or TDS measures. That is why ec = electrical conductivity.
 
Just as there is no universal GH level for fish, different fish have different needs, the same applies to ec/TDS. There is a huge difference in these measure for fish from blackwater rivers vs African rift lakes, etc.
 
Unless one is keeping special fish, paying attention to GH is usually sufficient. I use my meter because I work with seasonal spawners where the TDS levels vary greatly between rainy and dry seasons of for wild altums which I must bring into pH 4.2 or so and very low ec/TDS.
 
Hope this was helpful.